January 2010

About a year ago, I received a call from someone that represented an art gallery in the Los Angeles area of Venice. Yeah, funky, artsy Venice with its old canals and great beach vibe and crazy boardwalk.

He had come across this site and loved what I had to say about my garden and wondered if I could suggest some individuals that would be interested in discussing native plant landscaping in southern California for their lecture series.

The name of the gallery is G2, a bit odd I know…but they specialize in presenting artwork that is focused on nature and wildlife plus they have an ongoing list of wonderful speakers and other events, too.

After taking a look at their site, I knew that I would have to visit the gallery as I found it to be very interesting and I loved the photography. I drove to Venice ( it took me about two hours) and heard three different speakers in one evening about different environmental topics. I throughly enjoyed myself that evening with good conversation, meeting new and interesting people and seeing the gallery.

The gallery is not large but they had a nice turnout of attendees and the selection of photography was stunning and wonderful and featured several well-known landscape and wildlife photographers plus they hosted a lovely and warm reception for the guests and speakers.

I haven’t been able to revisit them due to timing and distance but I intend to do so as soon as I can. I just missed a speaker who discussed the merits and benefits of using native plants for landscaping…I had a schedule conflict and I’m so disappointed that I had to miss it.

And a year ago, Conrad Ankor the re-known mountaineer was giving a lecture. Darn! Another schedule conflict. I would have loved to hear him speak and have the opportunity to meet him but as usual, I couldn’t make the event.

If you live in the Los Angeles area you may want to visit the gallery and see what their latest show is and also get on their email list for upcoming events as they host several of them and quite often.

ABOUT THE G2 GALLERY
Established in March 2008, the G2 Gallery in Venice, California, is a green art space with a dedicated focus on contemporary nature and wildlife photography. In keeping with G2’s commitment to supporting arts and the environment, the gallery presents exhibitions with eco-conscious themes, donating the proceeds from all art sales to environmental charities and hosts free concerts and lectures that bring awareness of critical issues to our community.

When I was first looking into re-landscaping my front yard and switching over to using only native plants, I found that not only was there a dearth of information but there were not too many places to purchase plants. All the local nurseries only carried “exotics” and nothing that I wanted for my new design.

There were a handful of them, scattered about in southern California and other than the Theodore Payne Native Plant nursery, there was nothing near by me. Now that has changed in the last few months.

A new one has opened in Ventura and the owners are very well trained and experienced in the use of native plants for homeowners who are considering making a switch from traditional landscaping, to something more beneficial to the environment and wildlife.

A large part of this recent interest is due to the fact of the shortage of water that southern California has been experiencing for quite some time, resulting in rationing of it for landscaping purposes. Now the locals want to know more about what they can do to save water and that’s were native plants star.

This new nursery is called Nopalito Native Plant Nursery http://nopalitonursery.com and is owned by two guys who are cousins, Rick and Antonio Sanchez and their sidekick, Kenji Akune. Both Rick and Antonio gained experience and knowledge by their previous employment with the Theodore Payne Native Plant Nursery in Sylmar and have brought that knowledge to their new business.

They have a nice selection of plants and are conveniently located right next to the 101 freeway, making it easy to drop buy and see what they have in stock.

Some of their selections of plants.

They are also hosting a series of lectures from well-known speakers who are experts in the use of native plants, maintainence, design, water issues and wildlife. Their next speaker on Jan. 30th., will be Lili singer from the Theodore Payne Foundation and her topic will be “The ABC’s of Native Plant Gardening”.

Be sure to go to their website and see what plants they have to sell and note their upcoming lecture series, as you won’t want to miss them and you will gain a lot of information that you didn’t have before.

http://nopalitonursery.com

And in closing, be sure to sign up for my free social networking site if you love nature, native plants and wildlife.